Sagamore Spirit Startender Program Supports Bartenders
By Chilled Magazine
Bar closures and stay-at-home orders hit the service industry particularly hard, leaving many without a steady income.
As such, spirits brands stepped up to help their most loyal pourers, the bartenders. For Sagamore Spirit, the Maryland-based Rye brand, it was important to contribute by instantly supporting the pockets of bartenders and keeping them mixing and engaged.
The Startender Program tasked bartenders with a challenge—make their own rye-based cocktail with their best quarantine ingredients. Some put a spin on the Old Fashioned cocktail, others riffed on the Whiskey Sour. Bartenders from over 35 markets nationwide participated by making at-home videos of themselves preparing the whiskey cocktails. Sagamore Spirit paid each bartender for their videos.
According to Marcus Stephens, Vice President of Brand Marketing for Sagamore Spirit, “It was important for us to support the bartenders who for so long have supported our brand. We ran the Startender Program for three months to help bartenders with immediate support during these difficult times.”
In all, the brand received 85 videos that they edited into these cool video clips. Check them out.
Old Fashioned, Whiskey Sour and Mix It Up
Thank you to the participating bartenders:
Joshua Back
Zach Black
Zach Brisson
Gianna Burns
Gavin Chan
Andy Chandler
Kelly Dawson
CJ DiMarco
Celeste Dittamo
Ivo Donchev
Casey Dvorak
Maria Fricks
Josh Gelfand
Chris Green
Tyler Groom
Rey Guzman
Jason Hanshaw
Tyler Hartmann
Nathan Hines
Liz Jankowitz
Marcel Jinoch
Dusty Jones
Scott Kretzmann
Jacob Levine
Natalie Lichtman
Evan Lopez
Sean Martin
Faviola McClanahan
Ryan Minnick
Rocco Mongelli
Kat Moulder
Katherine Parsons
Derek Provan
Kaitlin Ryan
Leah Saari
Adrian San Gabriel
Austyn Shields
Ryan Sparks
Tony Stewart
Stephen Underhill
Kat Webster
Jackie Well
Stephen Wicker
Dave Winter